1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to retractors for use during surgery and, more particularly, for use in retracting ribs and adjacent tissue during surgery of the thorax.
2. Description of Related Art
During surgery it is frequently necessary to retract tissue, bone or other body material in order to facilitate access to and visualization of the surgical site. This is particularly true in surgery of the thorax. If access to the chest cavity is sought between the ribs, both the chest wall tissue and the ribs must be retracted to provide an opening large enough for insertion of surgical instruments and to allow visualization of the chest cavity, either directly through the incision or through an endoscope, microscope or other visualization device. In certain surgical procedures, such as coronary bypass grafting, it may be desirable to both lift the chest wall anteriorly and spread the ribs superiorly and inferiorly, for example, to harvest one or both of the internal mammary arteries located on the interior of the chest wall. During the same surgical procedure, it may be desirable, in addition to lifting and spreading the ribs, to only spread the ribs, depending upon the surgical manipulations to be performed.
Although many surgical retractor designs have been proposed, there remains a need in the art for a retractor that is able to perform various functions while having minimum size, few parts, and high ease of use.